This invention relates to utility hand carts for transporting trash containers, and more particularly, to hand carts of the type having a spring-loaded hook assembly and a level adjustment lock for securing a covered household plastic trash container to the cart.
In the field of sanitation engineering, the use of utility hand carts has long been recognized as an effective way to transport trash containers, and such carts are often employed in each of the commercial, industrial and residential environments. Typically, hand carts are designed for a particular task and thus, carts designed for use in an industrial setting are not suitable for typical household use. A specific example includes a dolly or cart design for transporting fifty-five gallon drum barrels.
Certain dollies and carts on the market are designed particularly for the industrial and commercial settings. Other somewhat lighter gauge dollies are available and adaptable for household use, however, these dollies include a metallic construction with a metal base plate. Therefore, the relatively heavy construction is inconvenient and difficult for use about the home. A lightweight plastic version of a hand cart would be far more convenient for domestic use.
The heavy metal construction of a commercial or industrial dolly can also be hazardous when used about the household. Some metallic dollies and carts are designed to be left lying down for storage with the baseplate projecting upward into the air. This design certainly presents a potentially hazardous condition when the dolly or cart is not in use. Further, the baseplates of the lighter metallic dollies are smaller providing less surface area for the trash can to be balanced thereon. Therefore, an individual must use one hand for balancing the trash can upon the smaller baseplate and the second hand for controlling the dolly or cart.
It is believed that a lightweight, strong, and maneuverable household dolly or caddy which is designed for transporting covered plastic trash cans when the cover is in place is not available. Because other industrial and commercial dollies were not designed to transport plastic trash containers, stabilization of the trash containers while being moved has been a problem. Obviously, the challenge is to prevent loss of control and spilling of the contents of the trash container. In particular, if the cover remains on the trash container, the dolly would have to be carefully rotated backwards on its wheels with one hand used to support the trash container while simultaneously using the second hand for controlling the dolly.
A typical barrel drum dolly does not have a baseplate for the trash can to rest upon and thus, is not domestically suitable. Further, the dolly includes a hook that crosses over the rim and connects to the trash container which cannot be used with the lid of the container in place. Since it is customary to transport trash containers to the street curb prior to municipal garbage collection, it is necessary to cover the containers for a specified period. Therefore, it is inconvenient to transport the trash containers uncovered to the street curb and then to make additional trips to retrieve the cover and secure the can.
Many of the dollies or carts constructed in the past are described as a truck apparatus, some of which include a mechanism for holding the container onto a large platform. Many of the truck constructions of the past were not designed to accommodate containers of varying size. Therefore, if a truck apparatus included a securing device and a support structure for securing the container in place, only those containers of a standard size could be accommodated by a particular truck apparatus. For example, certain hand trucks for transporting pails and cans included a plurality of hook-type latches cooperating with a plurality of keepers for engaging a handle on the can or pail. Secured to the latches was a crossrail which permitted the latches to be moved in unison with each other and with the rail. A coiled retractible spring was included which was anchored to a bar. The spring was designed to automatically pull the latches closed onto the keepers while the latches were connected from the top of the hook facing downward.
Another household utility truck was adjustable for accommodating a considerable variety of supported objects. The truck included a stem-embracing detent having the function of holding the supported object to prevent either forward or rearward tilting. The detent was slidable along a stem which was provided with a stud for preventing undue sliding of the detent. The detent could be disposed at fixed heights for a particular supported object. Another example was a collapsible hand truck which included a construction of parallel pairs of side support members which pivotally connected one pair of side support members to another by employing hinge members.
Yet a further example of a truck apparatus included a sliding hook assembly serving as an adjustment means which was mounted on a main bar and adapted for engaging one side handle of a supported container. An intermediate portion merged on the front end into an upturned hook portion engageable under a handle of the container. A set screw was threadedly engaged in the bight of a U-shaped portion and included an outer end portion projecting laterally for providing a handle adapted to be grasped by a user. Also, the set screw was threadable into engagement with a lower portion of the main bar in selected positions for adjustment at desired locations along the main bar.
Another example of a truck apparatus included a hook member which was slidably mounted on a middle rod. A downwardly projecting hook portion was adapted to hook over the outer rim of a container located on the truck. The hook member was formed of a single piece of flat stock and in addition to the downwardly projecting hook portion comprised an upper horizontal portion, a vertical connecting portion and a bottom laterally extending portion. The portions were provided with registering holes whereby the hook was adjusted up or down along the rod.
A further example included a truck or cart for carrying garbage cans or the like and was comprised of an elongated post which included a can-handle-grasping pair of hooks. The hooks were mounted toward the upper end of the carrier having a strap-like cradle mounted towards the lower end. In addition to including a platform for carrying a can and a plurality of wheels mounted on an axle connected to the post main shaft, the central portion of the strap-like cradle included a rearwardly offset post encircling portion. The encircling portion was snugly received about the post while the actual mounting of the cradle to the post was effected by extending the wheel axle through a pair of aligned holes in the sides of a structural portion. The parallel aligned holes in turn were aligned with an axle-receiving passage through the post. Thus, the axle assisted in the mounting and stabilizing of the cradle while being itself mounted on the post.
The actual grasping and lifting of the can was effected by a pair of forwardly directed hooks positioned towards the upper portion of the post below a handgrip. The hooks were actually defined by a pair of inwardly angled recesses formed in the forward portions of a pair of laterally spaced forwardly projecting platelike arms. The platelike arms constituted the opposed end portions of a platelike rigid member configured as to embrace the upper portion of the post. In order to accommodate the carrier to cans of different heights, the post was provided with a series of holes for the selective accommodation of a fastener and the mounting of a hook forming member in the vertically adjusted position. It should be noted that the hook forming member was not free floating and required disassembly for adjustment.
An additional example of a truck apparatus included a carrier for transporting compressed gas cylinders and further included a set of hook elements at its upper end arranged to suspend the cylinders. Each hook element was described as being pivotable and arranged to engage an internal flange or cutout forming a part of the cylinder. The pivotable hooks were not spring-loaded and were not adjustable along a plurality of vertical side bars of the carrier. The construction further included a plurality of cross bars for structural support.
A final example of a truck included a collapsible wheeled carrier which comprised a container base support assembly, a wheel frame assemble and a handle assemble, all of which could be readily disassembled without tools for compact storage and transportation. The wheeled carrier included a securing means attachable to a handle portion of a standard metal or molded plastic container. A container handle attachment assembly was comprised of a bent hook plate having an upstanding plate portion at the front of a second framework cross bar and an arcuately-curved portion seated against the underside of the second framework cross bar.
The container handle attachment assembly connected to the handle of a standard metal container or of a molded plastic trash container from below. The attachment assembly did not attach itself below the rim or lip of the plastic container and the handle assembly included parallel shafts with cross members. Therefore, the trucks and carts employed in the past for transporting trash containers continue to experience the problems described herein.
Hence, those concerned with the development and use of trucks and utility carts in the sanitation engineering field have long recognized the need for an improved truck, cart or caddy which is designed for transporting a household plastic trash container having a container lid intact and also a spring loaded hook assembly designed for locking underneath a peripheral rim of the plastic trash container with the hook assembly fitted with a level adjustment lock for securing the hook assembly and a support brace at any desired location along a main caddy shaft for transporting a plurality of different sized trash containers. Further, a need has long been recognized for a caddy employed for transporting domestic plastic trash containers, the caddy having a stabilizing basket for cradling the trash can, where the main caddy shaft can be disassembled for display, shipping, storage and transportation, and whereby the caddy may be economically produced and marketed through existing distribution networks. The present invention fulfills all of these needs.